[Fwd: Dr Deth responds to the Geiers' MB12 Injection Study, saying it is very flawed]

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http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/05/critical-response-to-study-of-mb12-injections.html

Critical Response to Study of MB12 Injections

Dr. Deth

of Northeastern University sent a letter to the editor at

Toxicological and Environmental Chemisty pointing out flaws in a

published study criticizing the injectable form of MB12. 

A press

release about the study begins with:  "

A new study, “An Autism Cohort Study of Cobalt Levels Following Vitamin

B12 Injections”, published in the most recent issue of the

peer-reviewed Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry1, confirms a

significant association between the frequency of methylcobalamin

(vitamin B12) injections and blood/urinary cobalt levels in subjects

diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder as well as a significant

association between cobalt exposure and damage to human neurons. 

Here is Dr. Deth's letter:

Dear Dr.

 

Having

read the paper “An Autism Cohort Study of Cobalt Levels Following

Vitamin B12 Injections”, I feel it necessary to write a follow-up

“Letter to the Editor”.  I hope such letters are published by the

Journal. The text follows:

 

To the editor:

 

While I have

a great deal of respect for the overall work of and Mark Geier,

their recent article “An Autism Cohort Study of Cobalt Levels Following

Vitamin B12 Injections” misuses findings to create an unjustified level

of fear about the use of methylcobalamin (methylB12) to treat autism.

Since this treatment is widely recognized as being effective in a

significant number of autistic individuals, it is critical to not allow

a scientifically flawed paper to undermine its use. The authors found a

mean plasma level of cobalt of 0.82 ug/liter for subjects receiving

methylB12 injections, which corresponds to a concentration of 14 nM,

and they found that neuroblastoma cells exhibit a toxic response to

cobalt(II)nitrate hexahydrate with an LC50 of 559 uM. As a first

significant problem,  their comparison of cobalt in vitamin B12 with

the free heavy metal form of cobalt is an inappropriate and misleading

comparison. It would be as if supplements containing vitamin B12

actually contained the heavy metal cobalt, which is obviously not the

case. The authors have an obligation to characterize the chemical form

of cobalt, which is highly likely to be overwhelmingly in the form of

vitamin B12, not in the form of free cobalt. Secondly, the difference

between the plasma concentration and the toxic concentration is

40,000-fold, but the authors fail to make this comparison. If indeed

the plasma form of cobalt is in the form of vitamin B12, the difference

in free cobalt concentrations is actually much higher than 40,000-fold.

These discrepancies make this article scientifically invalid and as

such it should be withdrawn. Studies directed toward identifying

optimal dosing regimens for methylB12, with minimal toxicity, are

indeed important. Unfortunately, this is not such a study.

 

Sincerely,

C. Deth, PhD

 

Professor of Pharmacology

Northeastern University

360 Huntington Avenue

Boston, MA 02115

USA

 

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